December 1, 2012

A fabulous 1965 recording by The Impressions. Don't confuse it with "Get Ready," by The Temptations, which is a completely different song. Some people even confuse The Impressions and The Temptations. "Get Ready," from 1966, was written by Smokey Robinson. (Here's how Smokey did it in 1979.)

As you may have noticed, I got absorbed with the word "get" earlier today. "Let's get out of here" and "You just don't get it, do you?" are 2 famously recurrent lines in movies. In the comments, I was saying:

"Get" — the word in both cliche lines — is a funny word. I've noticed that professional writers -- e.g. lawyers -- will replace the word "get" whenever they can (with seemingly more proper words like "obtain" and "acquire" and "depart" or "arrive"). It's like it's not a regular word. It's so useful we shouldn't use it.

And:

"You just don't get it" is a fascinating phrase. It was huge during the Clarence Thomas hearings. Do you remember? It's used to exert psychological pressure. You're trying to persuade someone that a particular viewpoint is correct, and you're jumping to this level of disgust and disbelief, essentially telling the person that they are dumb and isolated from all the people who already understand. It's not just that you don't agree with me already, you're some kind of outcast.

St. Croix said avoiding the word "get" is "a class thing," and professionals who avoid it are trying to sound "high class," trying "to impress." That made me do a little search to see whether the Supreme Court suppresses the word "get," and found it in only one third of the cases in the past year. Often it was a quote, like "Have you ever tried to get cow s*** out of a Prada purse?" (which is a cute low/high mix). Justice Scalia began a dissenting opinion with: "Let me get this straight..." (which might be taken as a deliberate working-class affectation). I'm seeing the word used in colloquial phrases like "get around," "get it backwards," and "get it right." Following natural speech patterns, "get" would appear much more frequently, so I say there's active suppression.

"But when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas -- that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out."

Imagine what the standard present-day legal editor would do to that sentence: the best test of truth is the power of the thought to gain acceptance in the competition of the market. (The editor would also try to purge the passive voice by fiddling around with the subject — maybe it should be "competition" — toying with the notion of making "test" the verb, and fretting over whether "test" and "market" amount to a mixed metaphor.)

Lawyers and judges just don't get that "get" is a fine word that shouldn't be replaced by boring longer words. When it comes up naturally, as you'd use it in speech, that's where it belongs. It feels natural because it's won in the marketplace of people talking to each other over the centuries, carrying out their affairs in real time. "Got" is true.

As I said, I got — got! — absorbed in the word "get" today, and I got — got! — interested in figuring what's the best song with the word "get." A marketplace of "get" songs. "People Get Ready" won. (Look at how many cover versions there are!) Other contenders — in addition to the above-mentioned "Get Ready" — are: "I'll Get You"/"Get Back"/"Getting Better"/"Got to Get You Into My Life" (The Beatles), "Get It While You Can" (Janis Joplin), "Get Off of My Cloud" (The Rolling Stones), "Get on the Floor" (Michael Jackson), "I Get Around" (The Beach Boys); "Can I Get a Witness" (Marvin Gaye), "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" (The Animals).... That's just stuff easily picked from my 1960s-leaning iPod.

I associate the lyrics "can I get a witness" with Grand Funk Railroad's Some Kind of Wonderful". Marvin Gaye's use of the expression is somewhat less interesting, but it's interesting to note that he was (I think) an uncommonly handsome man, in addition to being a great musician.

In the law world, that meant catching someone's mistake before it became embarrassing or consequential. The phrase "good get" was part compliment and part thanks. I heard it many times from others and said it many times to others.

The beauty of the phrase was its simplicity. We did not feel lower class when we said it.

Get down make loveGet down make loveGet down make loveGet down make love

Ev'rytime I get hotYou wanna cool downEv'rytime I get highYou say you wanna come downYou say it's enoughIn fact it's too muchEv'rytime I get aGet down get down get downMake love

(Get down) I can squeeze - (make love) you can shake me(Get down) I can feel - (make love) you can break me(Get down) Come on so heavy (make love)(Get down) When you take me (make love)You make love you make love you make love you make loveYou can make ev'rybody get down make loveGet down make love

Ev'rytime I get highYou wanna come downEv'rytime I get hotYou say you wanna cool downYou say it's enoughIn fact it's too muchEv'rytime I wanna get down get down get down

If in the 60s you couldn't get lucky with your collect of Smokey and Motown "get it on" albums, while your parents were away, getting some sun in Florida, a guy's only alternative was to get a sports car.

Oh yes, I remember when GWB spoke to the US Military while standing on the WTC wreckage with that borrowed megaphone. He said, "Get Ready, get ready." He thus sounded the teutonic war trumphet of his ancestors.

Old English, as well as Dutch and Frisian, had the root only in compounds (e.g. begietan "to beget," see beget; forgietan "to forget," see forget). Vestiges of O.E. cognate *gietan remain obliquely in pp. gotten and original p.t. gat. The word and phrases built on it take up 29 columns in the OED 2nd edition. Related: Getting.

Get wind of "become acquainted with" is from 1840, from earlier to get wind "to get out, become known" (1722). Get out, as a command to go away, is from 1711. Get-rich-quick (adj.) attested from 1904, first in O. Henry. To get out of hand originally (1765) meant “to advance beyond the need for guidance;” sense of “to break free, run wild” is from 1892, from horses. To get on (someone's) nerves is attested by 1970.get (n.) Look up get at Dictionary.com early 14c., "offspring," from get (v.). Meaning "what is got, booty" is from 14c.

The linguist John McWhorter points out the use of "get" in the passive voice, noting that it provides a different sense from the use of the "to be" passive. The "get" passive is more typically used for bad and/or unexpected events:

The linguist John McWhorter points out the use of "get" in the passive voice, noting that it provides a different sense from the use of the "to be" passive. The "get" passive is more typically used for bad and/or unexpected events:

Depending on what the the desired object is, to get it some means to have sex, to kill opponents , or to eat food.

Germans are basic creatures.

In the teen culture they get the romance and the frauline. In war they get kills of the enemies. In feasting they get the prime rib. In football they beat Alabama. The Dawgs are going to get some this afternoon.

Speaking of artists I find inspiring, Fred Hammond's "When the Spirit of the Lord"text is tingling. I highly, highly recommend his album, "The Spirit of David" (1996), which you can, of course, purchase from Amazon through Althouse's Amazon portal in her masthead.

I have given this as a gift several times and it has always drawn raves, as well it should.

Time has come today to announce my favorite cover of the Curtis Mayfield classic: The Chambers Brothers with the little mick drummer Brian Keenan. Brought down the Fillmore East every time. Saw all the greats there but none rocked it like the Bros. One of the all-time great forgotten bands.

Everyone covered it. Even Bobby Z recorded it with The Band on the Basement Tapes.

Good. Please don't forget the term "get" as in "get of sire" and other uses to refer to animal progeny...most commonly in the horse world. "Get" classes at horse shows refers to the ability of a given sire to reproduce favorable traits.

Also a longtime (and I mean since the '70s) fan of Phil Keaggy's. HECKUVA guitar player. Strongly recommend his stuff, too. He does a mean contemporary (relatively speaking) version of "John the Revelator," originally an old-timey Gospel classic from 1930.

Alas, full-length albums of his containing this classic aren't available directly from Amazon (though it recommends sellers), but you CAN download an mp3 of his version of "John the Revelator" (I recommend the album one) from Amazon, and you can also get post-2000 albums of his from Amazon.

"Why don’t yer shut yer gob yer big fat get or I’ll kick yer face in. Yer all the same you rich fat Bourgies, workin’ uz poor workers to death and getting all the gelt and going to France for yer ‘holidays.’"

Be a darling and get your Aunt Louise a package of Benson and Hedges out of the freezer, the mentholated 100's, in the freezer, be a darling. The mentholated !, no the green ones! Oh forget it you stupid sunuvabitch I'll get 'em myself.

In the spirit of @EMD's list of great songs with "get"...here's my favorite version of I got the music in me by Thelma Houston covering the Kiki Dee classic...but mo' betta. I have the Direct to Disk album and it is almost worn out....I play when I have a shitty attitude as an upper.

Dang. Joan Armatrading's live-performance videos of this from way back in the day are no longer available on YouTube. So I had no choice but to post this lame-o music-vid version from Vimeo. SO disheartening. Quite jarring, that visual interpretation.

But I STILL love, love, love Armatrading's "Walk Under Ladders" album (1981), the import CD version of which is available from Amazon.

"Get sick, get wellHang around an ink wellRing bell, hard to tellIf anything is goin' to sellTry hard, get barredGet back, write BrailleGet jailed, jump bail Join the army, if you failedLook out kidYou're gonna get hit***Ah get born, keep warmShort pants, romance, learn to danceGet dressed, get blessedTry to be a success"